Penn Hills police to increase presence at high school Wednesday following social media threat

Penn Hills students will see an increased police presence at the senior high school on Wednesday, after the department worked with school officials to identify the source of a social media threat.

“While Penn Hills Police Department does not view this threat as credible and have been able to identify the source … we are arranging an increased presents of (police) on our high school campus throughout the day tomorrow,” school officials posted to the district’s website on Tuesday.

Penn Hills Police Chief Howard Burton said the source of the threats was a high-school freshman.

“He’s a ninth grader with no criminal history whatsoever,” Burton said. “He just wanted something to do, and he did it. But we’re not prosecuting it through the police department. The school is going to do what it thinks it needs to.”

School officials’ notification said that the source of the threat “will face school district consequences.”